No marathon at Wimbledon this year from Isner and Mahut, just a sprint

Of course it was an anti-climax. It had to be because Isner-Mahut, The Sequel couldn't possibly last as long as the original. No match in history has. Remotely.

With evening shadows gradually enveloping Court 3, John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 in one of the more unremarkable matches that Wimbledon will throw up this fortnight. Lots of power serving, a dash of serve-volleying, an unhealthy number of awkwardly executed groundstrokes - and 149 fewer games than last year.

What lasted three days 12 months ago took a simple two hours, three minutes this time. No cramping, no overnight suspensions because of darkness, no on-court presentations at the end. With a delicious irony, the pair had been drawn to slug each other to a standstill on the longest day of the year, but it was a midsummer night's dream to fancy that they might be still be on court on Wednesday, let alone Thursday.

Close friends: John Isner (left) and Nicolas Mahut (right) embrace after their match

This was no Federer-Nadal or Borg-McEnroe rematch - Centre Court finals which ebbed and flowed with sumptuously teasing tennis. Isner and Mahut are first-round foes on outside courts with a wham-bam, hit-it-if-you-can style which is prose, not poetry.

Yet, somehow none of that mattered. The gruesome fascination of watching two men wallop tennis balls in the direction of each other for 11 hours, five minutes in a contest spread across three days added a dimension which even four of the greatest players who ever swished a racket do not possess.

Spectators queued along walkways for the un-ticketed seats on Court 3, media from around the world squeezed into every last gap and players and coaches peered down from the balcony of the Millennium Building which houses the players' restaurant.

And when it was all over, the warmest of embraces at the net with the giant Isner wrapping his tentacular arms around the touslehaired Mahut carried an affection which transported a match into an occasion.

The pair will forever be entwined in Wimbledon history. It will take more than a dull rematch to tarnish the majesty of the memories they created a year ago.

Marathon men: The pair stand by the scoreboard after last year's match

They had intended to rekindle those memories on Saturday as practice partners.

That was until fate paired them together once again, giving the world the rematch it craved and the players the draw they dreaded. Isner's reaction was to send Mahut a text with no words, just a grumpy face.

sday, he took no great joy in victory. Isner said: 'It's a huge relief, to be honest. I don't know if they are good memories from last year. They are long memories. I definitely didn't want to play Nico because it meant that one of us would have to lose.

'In the third set I told myself that if I didn't win the tiebreak we probably weren't going to finish tonight and that we would go into a second day again, and maybe a third day. Nico has nothing to hang his head about today. He played just as hard as last year.'

Scheduling the match for the new Court 3 with its openness to a biting wind instead of the friendly seclusion of Court 18 rendered the atmosphere muted, almost flat, and yet, with no breaks in the opening set mirroring the utter domination of the serve 12 months ago, there was just the merest of hints that Isner and Mahut might offer us a magical reprise.

Comfortable win: Isner sends a backhand across court

Intriguingly, the 13 games of the first set took an average of three minutes, 39 seconds each. Across 183 games last time, the average was precisely one second quicker at three minutes, 38 seconds.

The boys were on course. Only 170 more games to go. It couldn't happen, could it?

No. Mahut lapsed into errors while his left knee appeared to be paining him. He rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the third set, but couldn't hang on to force the match towards twilight. The pair gave one final delicious hint of mischief when a blistering Isner return set up match point. When he netted a routine backhand volley to waste it, the spectators nodded and grinned at what might still be possible.

Unlike last year, there was no satisfaction in defeat for Mahut this time round.

He said: 'Whatever everyone else wanted - and I totally understand that - what was really important for me was to try to take revenge. I couldn't reach the level I wanted.'

Out of last year's epic grew a friendship which will last a lifetime. Whatever else they achieve in tennis, Isner and Mahut will forever be bracketed together.

The original epic encounter will remain untouched but at least Isner has energy left for his second-round match this time.